The best way to lose weight, if there is a general solution to that at all, is to change your lifestyle and not to go by any specific diet plan that you will abandon sooner or later to fall back to your old habits. Which in turn means that even if you manage to lose weight you will put it back on once you are off that diet plan. The better solution is obviously to see which changes to your eating and exercising habits you can do that you are able to stick to permanently without feeling deprived. Ok, you might need a little bit of adjustment, but it will pay out in the long run.

Best Way to Lose Weight no 1:

Research and preparation saves you frustration

When you have finally decided to tackle your additional pounds, please take some time for preparation and do not jump onto the next fad diet bandwagon or you will fall off very soon. You will probably already have an idea of how many pounds you want to get rid of. The next step is to determine a realistic time frame for that weight loss. Of course when starting a diet program you are highly motivated and think you can endure everything just get it done in a short period of time. This unfortunately often means you are setting yourself up for failure. Keep in mind that for every pound lost you first have to consume 3,500 calories less that you burn. That translates into 500 calories less per day to lose one pound per week. So, set realistic goals and know you have to be a bit patient.

Best Way to Lose Weight no. 2:

No need to get hungry

One thing all the diet schemes have in common is that they will reduce your daily calorie intake. No way around. To lose weight you simple need to eat less calories than you burn despite all promises that you can still have all your favorite foods, yes you can have once in a while or tiny amounts, and never will feel hungry. True you do not need to be hungry on a diet when you spend the amount of calories that you are limited to intelligently, meaning not necessarily on sugar but on some protein and lots of fiber containing foods like raw vegetables. To achieve that you do not need to follow a specific diet plan, also you should do if you find that helpful and easier. A good method is to actually change your eating habits to healthier lower calorie option as this also ensures that your weight will stay off permanently.

Best Way to Lose Weight no. 3:

Choose fun activities to burn extra calories

One thing that supports your weight loss more than you might think is increasing your physical activity. I know, you might prefer watching your soapies on TV over going to the gym for a workout, but the good news is that it does not necessarily have to be a proper workout or running for an hour or so, which you are so dreading and can’t get yourself to do for longer anyway. The best solution is here to look for some fun activities that you might actually enjoy doing. Maybe start a new sport or just go bowling with the colleagues. Anything that makes you break a little sweat is better than just sitting in front of the TV.

Best Way to Lose Weight no. 4:

A weight loss buddy can make all the difference

Although you might be able to motivate yourself at the beginning of your diet, it is so much easier when you have somebody who joins you in your quest to lose weight. Also studies have suggested that this is an important factor to stick to your diet and reach your goal weight. To find a weight loss buddy, just talk to a few friends or colleagues about you wanting to go onto a diet next week and sooner or later somebody will be happy to join you. Just keep in mind that might not always be the person who in your eyes needs to lose weight most. Even if your weight loss buddy only has to lose 5 pounds, you can still get started together and it can be a great help and motivation, especially as week two and three are the hardest and you will appreciate support most during that time.

Best Way to Lose Weight no 5:

Dieting does not work like a switch!

Often people get frustrated with their diet and give up in an very early stage. They expect to see results after two days of eating a bit less and this weight loss does not always materialize that quickly. One very crucial thing you have to keep in mind is that you do not need to be perfect. Dieting is not like a switch that you just turn on to lose a few pounds and that you then can turn off going back to having your chocolate cake. It is a new way of life that you first need to get used to, so do not expect yourself to be able to adhere to your diet plan 100%. Of course this should be your long term aim, though. The success factor is here to always get back on the diet wagon if you fall off. Everybody falls off here and there and more often in the beginning of a diet, but those who succeed to lose weight are simply getting back on and are finding over time ways to stay on for longer and longer. It is as simple as that!

Best Way to Lose Weight no. 6:

90% is mindset and 10% is skill

To overcome every problem one says it is 90% mindset and 10% skill. This also applies to weight loss. Just think about what your mindset is and how you feel when you consider going on diet. I bet there are mainly negative things coming up and it is not uncommon to find excuses and dismiss that though quite quickly. Only that does not solve that problem of the additional pounds that you have to lose. So sooner or later the issue is coming up again as you are unhappy about your figure. So why not work on your mindset? Make a list with all the positive things about dieting like fitting in smaller clothing sizes, feeling great about yourself, getting a better skin, not feeling bloated any more etc. Try to emphasize these things, feel the good feelings and go through that list as often as possible. You can also make a list with the negative issues that come up and then logically think about how to deal with them. Just this one techniques puts you ahead of many other dieter and increases your chances of success dramatically.

Green tea weight loss? Green tea has been touted as one of the miracle methods to lose weight without any effort. You just drink 3-5 cups of green tea and off the pounds fall …, or not so? Is there some truth in green tea aiding weight loss or is this just another fad diet? Well, to tell the truth, both sides have some valid points. Green tea is not the magic bullet if you were looking for that, but the good news is that science does support the theory that green tea might be helpful to lose weight to a certain degree.

Facts on green tea weight loss

There seems to be a general consensus that if you drink 3-5 cups of green tea, this will stimulate your body’s thermogenesis, which is the body’s heat production through a higher metabolism. Now thit first sounds good, you drink some tea and the body starts to burn more calories. However, the effect is restricted to an increase of 2-4% which works out to about 40 – 80 calories per day. Now, that doesn’t really cover the extra chocolate bar or donut that we are having daily, but still it can add up over time. As everything that you turn into a habit, the long term effect can be quite impressive. You could lose about 6-8 pounds over the course of a year. That does not sound like fast weight loss, and as single strategy it might not even balance the additional weight gain that occurs through overeating during that time, but if you add another 3 or 4 such little habits, it starts to look like something!

How does green tea promote weight loss

Scientists have found that drinking green tea will increase the heat production of your body, also called thermogenesis. This effect was first thought to be due to the caffeine content of green tea as caffeine is known for this effect. However, the caffeine amount in green tea has a bigger effect on the extra calories burned than the same amount of pure caffeine. This suggests that there are more active ingredients in green tea, and catechins are thought to work synergistically together with the caffeine. This is especially important for people who are sensitive to caffeine as green tea is the lower caffeine option.

Catechins responsible for weight loss

Catechins found in green tea might according to scientists be the reason for the weight loss that people do experience when drinking tea for a longer period of time. A 12 week study could confirm weight loss in people who drank catechin rich tea versus a control group having tea low in catechins. The exact mechanism has not yet been fully investigated, but the effects of green tea on blood sugar and it’s property to inhibit glucose uptake into the fat cells seem to influence the body’s fat depots confirming an old Chinese proverb saying: “The who drinks green tea will stay slim”.

Green tea influences blood sugar and fat metabolism

On the other side, there are substances in green tea which seems to slow down the uptake of glucose into the blood thus preventing insulin spikes and reducing cravings. Now, that does not mean that green tea is an appetite suppressant, but rather the biochemical reason for cravings like a blood sugar spike, is less intense leading to less extra calorie intake through snacking or binge eating. Having that said, green tea did reduce the appetite in mice and consequently reduced the calorie intake considerably resulting in significant weight loss. However, the same effect in humans could only be achieved by green tea injection.

Green tea increases endurance

Another beneficial fact about green tea is that it increases endurance. So if you are doing lots of exercise to lose weight, this might be of help as it has been reported that exercise plus green tea burns more calories than only the exercise itself, at least in mice …

Conclusions on green tea weight loss:

Green tea is not the magic bullet of weight loss that melts your fat depots while you can go on having chocolate cake. Universal laws are still in place and to lose weight you still need to eat less than you burn.

Nevertheless, a few good cups of tea per day make you feel full and satiated and can keep cravings in check. So, don’t expect wonders, but have your tea nevertheless, it is the healthier option to coffee either way!

Set a goal, make a plan and get going

If you wonder how to loose weight, the first thing you need to do is invest some time in research to get clear on how much weight you have got to loose and within what time frame you may be able to lose that weight realistically. Don’t buy into those “lose 10 pounds in 10 days” schemes as for most people such an extreme weight loss is simply not possible. And even if you lose 10 pounds, a good part of that is most likely water and will come back on quite quickly. And don’t forget that we are not in a “Biggest Loser” environment but have to continue to run our busy lives beside trying to figure out how to loose weight. A more sensitive approach will more likely result in dropping some pounds. Get started with setting a goal weight and time frame, decide on a weight loss plan and get started.

Forget the magic pill myth

It sometimes seems to be like the search for the holy grail, the quest for the magic weight loss pill that you swallow and the pounds start melting away, or the latest fitness gadget that shakes off the pounds while you only need to stand on a vibrating plate for 10 minutes a day. It seems like the perfect weight loss solution, but somehow I don’t know anyone who has really lost weight with that. Do you? I guess it is time to grow up and get real, in essence you already know how to loose weight and that you need to put in a little effort. You do know the basic concept of eating less than you burn, so don’t get trapped by some weird ideas that make some companies a lot of money. Rather invest your money in what has been proved to work, use a solid diet plan that you feel comfortable with and get going. If you can not stick to that diet plan the next fad diet won’t help either, rather work with concepts that increase your determination and motivation.

Keep your motivation up and be patient

After the first few days of dieting with your slim new figure on your mind, the motivation often starts to fad quickly when the scale does not show fast weight loss. And after we might have experienced some initial weight loss due to decreased water retention and less food in your body we often hit a plateau. This is the most difficult phase of your diet and any support is much appreciated as otherwise the chance of falling off the wagon is high. It always takes longer than you think for the scale to pick up your weight loss as your weight underlies fluctuations of 1-2 pounds anyway. Just be patient and continue to do what you do. If you can find a weight loss buddy that should help and motivate you a lot, if you can’t find somebody you might want to read about successful weight loss cases or view similar videos on YouTube to keep your spirits up, so you will not lose the faith that you can do it too. Be patient, stick with it and you will see results soon.

Record your weight and calorie intake for motivation and accountability

A good and simple tool for motivation is to keep records of your weight and your calorie intake or at least of what foods you ate. The mere act of having to write down your caloric sins may prevent them in the first place. Your food diary will hold you accountable to yourself and when you think of the next chocolate bar or donut for your coffee break, you will feel a resistance towards having to write that down. Put your data in an excel table and create graphs, moving averages of your weight loss, chart your daily calorie deficits against your actual weight loss and see what else of excels sophisticated functions you might want to use. If you like playing with numbers, this will keep you motivated. If you are not a numbers fan a simple graph showing your weight loss can still make you feel good and give positive feed back.

How to loose weight with an off-day from your diet

We all need a break here and there, even from our diet. Nobody is always perfect and it is much easier to stick to your new eating plan for a couple of days when you know that you can have whatever you want on that off-day. We are all only human and going without your favorite foods for weeks or even months doesn’t seem to be possible, so we cheat on our diet right away. However, the off day gives us the opportunity to have that food without feeling guilty because we are not cheating, it is part of our diet. So have a guild-free treat and go back to your diet the next day without beating yourself up. To have one day a week with considerably more calories has even the advantage to prevent your metabolism from going into starvation mode and burning less and less calories.

Right mind set: your body is not your enemy

It is very important to develop the right mindset to make it through a diet, maybe it is the most important detail and the reason why so many of us battle with losing weight and keeping it down. Often, when few extra pounds have accumulated we get more and more unhappy about how we look, but for the resulting frustration we then have our comfort foods. Of course the comfort only works for a few minutes and frustration comes back. We start seeing our body as an enemy that does treat us badly by piling up the pounds and getting more and more off target and then our body craves even more of that comfort food. To get out of that vicious circle you need to develop the right mind set, you need to think differently about yourself and your body. Rather than seeing your body as your enemy that is the reason for you to have to go onto a diet, it is more helpful to remember that your body is the only place your have to live in here on earth and it should therefore be very precious to you. So treat your body accordingly, be more aware of it’s value and it will be much easier for you to go for healthy food choices.

Conclusions on how to loose weight

There are many factors that play a role in weight loss. Of course you have to get the basic right, but how to loose weight successfully is mainly a function of how well you are able to execute your weight loss plan.

Just after the festive season and all the overeating, people are looking for a way to deal with those calories to lose weight. These 7 simple steps can serve as an easy action guide for you to take action and give you a promising start into weight loss:

1  Find out how much weight you need to lose

Use a body mass index calculator (BMI calculator) to see how much weight you need to lose to get at least into the “normal range” of 18.5-24.9. Even if your body weight is still in the upper part of the normal range, you might want to catch yourself early and move back into the middle of that range or for a bikini figure into the lower range.

2  How fast do you want to lose weight?

OK, everybody obviously want to lose weight as fast as possible. But please keep in mind that faster you go the more difficult it is to do and it is more likely that you will quit your diet after a few days. Additionally, rapid weight loss is unhealthy and can cause other problems for your body as it gets out of balance through the release of toxins when breaking down the fat cells. In general, go fast enough to see results to keep you motivated and slow enough to be able to stick to your diet plan. As a guideline to lose 2 pounds per week you need to eat 1,000 calories less per day!

3  Find out how many calories you need to maintain your current weight

Use a basal metabolic rate calculator (BMR calculator) to get an idea about how many calories you need to sustain your current weight. These calculators figure in your current weight ,height ,gender, age and activity level and calculate how many calories you will need each day to neither lose weight nor put on weight.

You can then subtract your calorie deficit (see 2) from that maintenance level of calories needed each day to establish the amount of calories you will be having during your diet. You have now set a calorie limit on how many calories your new meal plan should provide.

4  Look for a diet plan that suits your needs

Even if your neighbor or your best friend did lose a lot of weight with method x, it might not be for you. The one person is fine with eating grapefruits all day while somebody else don’t mind cutting down the carbs. Rather go for the methods that you think might be easier for you as you will be able to stick to your diet much longer. And that is the most crucial point in achieving your goal weight!

5  Finding your diet meal plans

You can now search the Internet for meal plans that provides the amount of calories just established. For example, you can search for “1200 calorie meal plans” or “low carb 1200 calories”. Alternatively, you can cut from your current diet the amount of calories that equal your calorie deficit. This way you don’t have to bother with cooking totally new meals that you might not even like or that are too complicated or too much effort to put together.

6  Tracking your calorie intake

Nobody likes to count calories but there is not really a way around if you want to make sure that you stick to your calorie limit. At least count calories for the first few days. Many people underestimate the amount of calories that they consume each day so tracking is essential to ensure successful weight loss.

Online calorie counter are making this process easy. However, as you usually do not eat that many different meals, even tracking calories manually is not that complicated. Just give it a try!

7  Check your weight regularly

Some people are obsessed with stepping on to of the scale. You don’t need to take your weight every hour or even every day, but you need to see that your current dieting efforts are resulting in weight loss. If not, track your calorie intake again by counting calories or investigate for others stumbling blocks like a thyroid condition, not enough sleep, being stressed out, food sensitivities or prescription drugs. All these might interfere with your metabolism.

]]> http://dietonautopilot.com/calories-to-lose-weight/feed 1 http://dietonautopilot.com/how-intermittent-fasting-can-help-balance-overeating-during-the-festive-season http://dietonautopilot.com/how-intermittent-fasting-can-help-balance-overeating-during-the-festive-season#comments Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:47:17 +0000 Claudia http://dietonautopilot.com/?p=487 With the good, happy and merry times just ahead, some of you might be concerned about where their weight might end up after eating all the cookies, Christmas pudding and of course mom’s traditional and not to be missed Christmas dinner turkey.

Delicious food is all around you!

Food is delicious and plenty this time of the year and we can not and, to be honest, we don’t want to refuse it. After all another year has gone by and the family has come together and all you do is eating, chatting, eating, visiting old friend from the area, eating and as if that wasn’t enough there are also lots of sweets for in-between eating.

And now, step on the scale!

But who wants to step on the scale afterwards? Well, you will have to face your fear of having put on weight, and for a reason! Wilhelm Busch once said „Nothing is harder to bear, than a few good days in a row!“ and there is probably some truth in it.

So, how do we fix that now?

Well, if we boil it down to the basics, we have created a huge calorie surplus over the Festive Season and to keep our weight, or rather to bring it back to where it was, all we need to do is to balance it with the same amount of calories in a deficit. The good thing is that usually the weight comes off easier if you tackle it right away, before it had time to get comfortable at your hips so to speak.

Here is your fix:

Intermittent fasting can help you here as with this method you are able to create a huge calorie deficit in a short time, so it is ideal to balance out our Christmas calorie surplus. With intermittent fasting all you do is you eat one day just as normal and you do not eat anything at all the next day (fasting), then again you eat the next day followed by fasting. So, you only need to fast for one day at a time. You can do that, can’t you?

Intermittent fasting is good for balancing calories

If not, maybe you can fast until the late afternoon, having one meal then and fast until the next day’s afternoon. The exact scheduling is up to you and there are many variations of intermittent fasting.

But if you can manage 2 or 3 fasting days within the week after Christmas, you should be back to normal weight wise. Although this is nothing I would consider to do over a longer period of time, as I rather believe in generally changing to healthier eating habits, intermittent fasting is a good way to balance calories from occasional overeating.

So far so good and science has confirmed the above. Some marathon runners even drink a cup of olive oil which gives them the energy to get through the race. Now, most of us don’t run for hours and hours and we’d rather want to lose fat instead of putting more into us, so let’s just be sure that this fat burning concept does work for us.

While it is true that cardio makes you burn fat, there seems to be a catch to it. The catch being that you burn fat WHILE doing cardio, but once you are finished, certain hormone levels go down prompting your body to burn carbohydrates for the rest of the day!

Good news is that is also seems to work to other way around: If you do weightlifting, strength exercise or any other anaerobic exercise with short bursts of intense activity, this makes your body burn carbohydrates (sugar) during the exercise and increases hormone levels that start muscle building and fat burning after exercise.

More about that concept in the below video.

For decades we’ve been told gaining and losing weight is all about the calories. Just one little problem: the research says otherwise. Diabetics undergo dramatic weight changes when they adjust their insulin levels — and so do you. Your diet determines how much insulin your body will produce over time.

From the documentary “Fat Head.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Full Video Product Description:

Have you seen the news stories about the obesity epidemic? Did you see Super Size Me ? Then guess what … You’ve been fed a load of bologna.

Comedian and former health writer Tom Naughton replies to the Super Size Me crowd by losing weight on a fat-laden fast-food diet including plenty of double quarter-pounders and fried chicken while demonstrating that nearly everything we’ve been told about obesity and healthy eating is wrong.

Fat Head features humorous animations as well as informative interviews with doctors, nutritionists, and political scientists.

]]> http://dietonautopilot.com/why-you-got-fat/feed 0 http://dietonautopilot.com/does-oatmeal-make-you-lose-weight http://dietonautopilot.com/does-oatmeal-make-you-lose-weight#comments Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:53:00 +0000 Claudia http://dietonautopilot.com/?p=444

Does Oatmeal make you lose weight?

Everyone knows that oatmeal is an excellent source of fiber, which is beneficial for health. But does oatmeal make you lose weight? To understand how this works, let’s first have a look onto the health benefits of oatmeal.

Oatmeal used to be very popular for breakfast

Oatmeal is a traditional food item that was very popular when our parents or even grandparents grew up. When in the good old times kids used to eat porridge for breakfast, today, we life in a world were we rather eat cereals like cheerios, strawberry pops, chocolate rings, corn flakes or for the more health conscious ones muesli. In contrast to today’s breakfast variety, oatmeal seems boring and tasteless.

The more surprising it comes that traditional oatmeal is actually the healthier food. It contains lost of important minerals and half soluble fiber and half insoluble fiber. When the soluble fiber passes through the digestive tract, it breaks down and turns into a gel which is capable of trapping mostly bad cholesterol. ½ to 1 cup per day of oatmeal is according to studies needed for the cholesterol lowering effect.

Oatmeal’s soluble fiber lowers cholesterol!

However, the soluble fiber has another beneficial effect: slower digestion! The sugars and carbohydrates contained in oatmeal need a considerably longer time to enter the blood stream, which means also the rise in blood sugar is spread over a longer period of time. So, the fibers in oatmeal on the one side keep you full for longer and also the slow release of sugars into the blood stream prevents an overstimulated insulin release from the pancreas, which means that you will less likely experience any food cravings.

Let’s recap: How does oatmeal make you lose weight?

1. fiber makes you feel full for a longer time

2. slow rise in blood sugar prevents food cravings

Does oatmeal also boost your metabolism?

Sometimes, oatmeal has also been touted to boost your metabolism. While the cholesterol lowering properties as well as the blood sugar stabilizing capabilities of oats have been well documented in medical publications, I could not find any evidence that oatmeal is able to increase your metabolism. There seems to be no magic component in oatmeal that itself makes you lose weight.

I hope this article shed some light on your question: “Does oatmeal make you lose weight?” Despite the non-existence of a magic fat loss component, oatmeal is nevertheless a healthy food, that you might want to give a try.

]]> http://dietonautopilot.com/does-oatmeal-make-you-lose-weight/feed 0 http://dietonautopilot.com/50-ways-to-burn-200-calories http://dietonautopilot.com/50-ways-to-burn-200-calories#comments Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:29:46 +0000 Claudia http://dietonautopilot.com/?p=427 If you are looking for ways to burn additional calories during exercise or leisure activities, the below list shows you 50 different ways to burn 200 calories. Just choose another activity each day and have fun!

Here are 50 ways to burn 200 calories:

1	skip rope	15 minutes
2	spinning	15 minutes
3	elliptical trainer	15 minutes
4	step aerobic	20 minutes
5	ice skating	20 minutes
6	go for a run	20 minutes
7	play squash	20 minutes
8	rock-climbing	20 minutes
9	Tae Bo	20 minutes
10	play soccer	20 minutes
11	skiing cross country	20 minutes
12	walk up and down stairs	20 minutes
13	go swimming	25 minutes
14	play flag foot ball	25 minutes
15	in-line skating	25 minutes
16	play tennis.	25 minutes
17	punching bag	25 minutes
18	do resistance training	30 minutes
19	dancing	30 minutes
20	strength training.	30 minutes
21	ride the bike (moderate speed)	30 minutes
22	walk briskly	35 minutes
23	basketball.	35 minutes
24	clean out old cupboards	35 minutes
25	gardening	35 minutes
26	rearrange the furniture	35 minutes
27	hula-hoop	40 minutes
28	play kickball	40 minutes
29	play golf	40 minutes
30	mow the lawn	45 minutes
31	horseback riding	45 minutes
32	water aerobics	45 minutes
33	motor-cross	45 minutes
34	pilates	50 minutes
35	trampoline	50 minutes
36	paddle in a canoe leisurely	55 minutes
37	go shopping	60 minutes
38	go bowling	60 minutes
39	swinging on a swing.	60 minutes
40	paint a room	60 minutes
41	play table tennis	60 minutes
42	play volleyball	60 minutes
43	belly dancing.	60 minutes
44	play badminton	60 minutes
45	wash windows	60 minutes
46	build a sand castle.	60 minutes
47	play frisbee	60 minutes
48	wash and vacuum your car	70 minutes
49	clean the garage	70 minutes
50	washing the dishes	90 minutes

Please keep in mind that the exact amount of calories burned depends on how vigorously you execute this activity and on your weight. The values are for an average person of 150 pounds, but if you weigh more you will also burn more.

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]]> http://dietonautopilot.com/50-ways-to-burn-200-calories/feed 1 http://dietonautopilot.com/bmi-calculator-determine-your-healthy-weight http://dietonautopilot.com/bmi-calculator-determine-your-healthy-weight#comments Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:43:03 +0000 Claudia http://dietonautopilot.com/?p=354 Check your body mass index

If you want to lose weight, you need to make a plan. And one of the first things to find out is how many pounds do you need (or want) to lose to achieve a healthy weight. You might have some idea about your goal weight, but for good diet planning just check it out using the below Body Mass Index (BMI) calculator.

Is your weight loss goal healthy?

With today’s models generally rather being underweight and anorexic, you might have the wrong idea about a healthy goal weight in mind. Wouldn’t it be nice to find out that you don’t really have to so much weight to lose to achieve a healthy body weight?

Catch yourself early!

On the other side, one can also underestimate the weight loss need to reduce health risks, and even when your personal body mass index falls into the normal range, you might want to watch it and catch yourself early not to slip into the overweight range.

Use this Body Mass Index (BMI) calculator to check or establish your goal weight.

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